


bathtub

by trulyfine (ssstrychnine)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-24
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-08-10 14:00:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7847818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssstrychnine/pseuds/trulyfine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>kyungsoo is sick, baekhyun looks after him</p>
            </blockquote>





	bathtub

Baekhyun always knows when Kyungsoo is getting sick before he does. His eyes get tired at the edges, more tired than usual, and his lashes pull low, casting shadows. His lips get dry and he licks them more often, sucking his lower lip into his mouth. The soft skin under his eyes gets darker. His shoulders slope, his voice catches on the edge of rough, he sleeps later. Baekhyun notices this because Baekhyun notices everything about Kyungsoo; the way his fingers curl into his palms when he’s nervous, the way his hair falls back when he runs his hand through it. Baekhyun notices all of it because he shares a room with Kyungsoo but also because he wants to share more. He wants to share oxygen with him, skin with him, a bed with him. He settles for making him a hot drink, ginger with lemon and honey.  
  
“You’re getting sick,” he says, sitting down next to him, placing the mug on the coffee table and turning the handle toward him. He looks at the cup, eyes flat, and then he looks at Baekhyun, expression still as stone.  
  
“I’m not sick,” he says, and he turns back to his book.  
  
“Drink it anyway,” insists Baekhyun, nudging the mug closer. “It’s good for your voice, aren’t you supposed to be a singer?”  
  
“I’m not sick,” he repeats, but he picks up the mug and takes a sip and the heat from the steam flushes his cheeks and Baekhyun is satisfied.  
  
“I’ll bring you a blanket,” he says, standing up. “I have cough medicine too. Do you want ginseng tea instead?”  
  
“If you bring me any of that I’ll break some part of you,” says Kyungsoo. “An important part.” He’s holding the mug with two hands now, warming his palms, blowing at it to cool it down. Baekhyun laughs and the corners of Kyungsoo’s mouth twitch. It’s enough, Baekhyun leaves the room smiling.  
  
Kyungsoo gets sicker. Ginger and lemons aren’t enough and really it’s a good time for him to get sick, the group has nothing planned for a couple of weeks at least, but Baekhyun still doesn’t like it. Kyungsoo gets angrier when he’s sick. He snaps at everyone and it’s not like normal, not like him and Chanyeol playing at violence or him and Baekhyun playing at something else. It’s duller and meaner than that and it puts everyone on edge. Baekhyun knows it’s because Kyungsoo likes to be in control and when he’s sick he can’t be. He watches the way Kyungsoo tries to takes it back; folding the cuffs of his jeans, tying his shoelaces, setting an alarm to force himself awake even though he doesn’t need to be. Baekhyun wakes up with him and they eat breakfast together, sitting across from each other at the dining room table.  
  
“When I used to get sick my mum would put me in a bath with oils in the water so I could inhale it,” says Baekhyun, keeping his eyes on his food because he know Kyungsoo won’t like him looking at him. “Do you want me to run you a bath?”  
  
“You’re not my mum,” says Kyungsoo and Baekhyun bites his tongue against the threat of laughter. He has selfish reasons to want Kyungsoo in a bath too; he might listen to the sound of running water, watch the steam that drifts under the door, think of water on skin and wet hair and Kyungsoo’s mouth, collecting steam.

“No, I’m your wife,” says Baekhyun, smiling as prettily as he can and batting his eyelashes. Kyungsoo scowls. Baekhyun’s heart flutters. It might be that it shows on his face because Kyungsoo’s expression changes then and he looks a little bit thoughtful, a little bit light, a little less sick. It startles Baekhyun, though it really shouldn’t, and he looks back at his food, at his hands resting on the table, and when he looks up Kyungsoo’s expression is calm water. He reaches across the space between them and fills Baekhyun’s half empty cup with water from the jug. _Maybe he’s not angry after all_ , Baekhyun thinks; not in this moment, not in cold morning light.

Baekhyun offers to run him a bath three mornings in a row. Kyungsoo ignores him the first time and lightly slaps his hand the second time and pulls at a piece of his hair the third time. His hand stays at the side of Baekhyun’s face a little longer than it should, the dry edges of his fingernails drag lightly against his scalp and his thumb cuts down across his temple. Baekhyun’s breath hitches and Kyungsoo pulls at his hair again, harder, and then he turns on his heel, heads back down the hall towards their room. Baekhyun shakes his hair out like he might rid himself of the touch and the way it makes him feel a little bit like he’s going to catch on fire. He doesn’t see Kyungsoo for the rest of the day, suddenly convinced that if he steps into their room and sees Kyungsoo in blankets with a red nose and messy hair, he might do something stupid. He roams the hallways and he works out and he makes up a pot of ginger tea and then drinks it all himself, until his throat is rough with honey.

He has never really thought about the possibility that Kyungsoo might like him back, not seriously, not in any way other than a sun-drunk fantasy. Kyungsoo is every whispering dream he can’t control, the husky voice in his ear before he wakes up, uncomfortably hot and aching with want. It isn’t _real_. It’s idle and impossible, glowing dust motes in a patch of sunlight that might burst into flame just as easily as they disappear completely. It has never bothered him. He likes liking him enough that it doesn’t really matter if it’s not reciprocated. He is satisfied with the small things Kyungsoo gives him. His voice, his hands, his presence; solid and steady and immovable. He thinks that if Kyungsoo confessed he wouldn’t know what to do, he’d be so overwhelmed that nothing would come of it anyway. He isn’t sure what exactly it is about Kyungsoo’s hand in his hair that makes him consider this possibility but he goes to bed late that night, after Kyungsoo is asleep, curled up small to keep himself warm.

Kyungsoo’s alarm wakes them in the morning and Baekhyun gets up with it. He likes to see Kyungsoo half asleep, sitting up in bed, bare feet on the floor, rubbing at the sleep that’s settled in his eyes. He doesn’t think there will ever be a time when it doesn’t make him feel warm and soft and closer to Kyungsoo just because he’s allowed to see it.  
  
“Go back to sleep,” he says, every time, and every time Kyungsoo stares at him until he looks away. He thinks of it like a game that he will always lose because it’s hard to look at Kyungsoo so long without betraying himself somehow. A bitten lip or a blush. This time Kyungsoo smiles and Baekhyun looks away immediately.  
  
The dorms have emptied out over the last few days. Most of the group are visiting family and friends while they have the free time and the rest of them spend their days out, doing whatever they need to stretch their limbs and stop their bones from breaking. Kyungsoo stays because his family are away themselves and Baekhyun stays for Kyungsoo because of course he does.  
  
Kyungsoo is slow to get out of bed and slow to walk down the hallway and slow to pick up his chopsticks to eat. Baekhyun thinks he looks worse and he makes tea before he sits down to eat himself. Kyungsoo doesn’t even protest, just sips his tea and watches Baekhyun over the rim of the mug. The swirling steam makes him look only half real and Baekhyun feels a little better about staring back.  
  
“Are you gonna die?” he asks.  
  
“Not with my wife looking after me,” says Kyungsoo, his voice rough and low. Baekhyun shivers and then laughs at himself for shivering and then crams a piece of kimchi in his mouth.  
  
“Your wife thinks you should have a bath,” he says, around his mouthful. “I have eucalyptus.”  
  
“I don’t know what that is,” says Kyungsoo. “Will you have one with me?” Baekhyun inhales so sharply he chokes and has to finish his glass of water before he can speak again. Kyungsoo watches him. Kyungsoo wets his lower lip with the tip of his tongue. Baekhyun doesn’t really know what’s happening. _Kyungsoo must be feverish_ , he thinks, _he is cold and sick and he wants the comfort he might get if he were at home with his family_ . _I am a warm body_ , he thinks.

“Baths are boring,” he says, when he’s recovered, and it’s true. “I hate baths,” he adds, and that is also true though he’s not sure it applies to any baths he might take with Kyungsoo. 

  
“But you expect me to have one?”  
  
“You’re weak and sick,” says Baekhyun grinning, trying to settle back into feeling comfortable again. “I’m strong and healthy.”

“Healthy for _now_ ,” Kyungsoo mutters and Baekhyun laughs and everything is right again. It seems suddenly absurd to think that Kyungsoo meant anything, asking him to take a bath with him. He’s just sick and maybe homesick too and maybe heartsick. Baekhyun is the only person there.

But he sticks to Baekhyun closely that day, closer than he has all week. They slouch around the dorms together and he’s never really more than an arm's span away. Kyungsoo spends most of his time lying in front of the glass sliding doors that lead out onto the balcony. The sun falls through the windows and he moves around the room with it, soaking it up like he might be healed by it. Baekhyun stays on the couch, playing with his phone or his laptop, half his attention always on Kyungsoo. It’s not boring, it’s just quiet and still and he finds he likes it, being quiet and still with Kyungsoo. He can’t sit still for many people but he can with him.

When the day stretches and the sun fades, Kyungsoo’s shoulders hunch over and he draws his knees up to his chest. He stays sitting on the floor, watching the sun turn orange and then red and then disappear completely. Baekhyun leaves him, goes to their room, picks up a blanket from his bed. He goes back to the living room and drops it over Kyungsoo’s head and he makes a hoarse noise of protest but doesn’t shrug it off. He does reach out though, and he grabs Baekhyun’s ankle, far too quick a movement for someone so sick, and Baekhyun freezes in place.

“Just use the blanket,” he sighs, but Kyungsoo doesn’t let go. He crawls his hand up Baekhyun’s leg until he can grab a handful of his sweatpants, and then he pulls and Baekhyun sighs and sits down next to him.

He’s small, wrapped up like he is, smaller than Baekhyun ever really thinks he is, because he isn’t small in Baekhyun’s head, he’s constant. He’s holding the blanket around his shoulders with one hand like a cape but it falls open at his neck and Baekhyun sighs again, takes the edges of the blanket, tucks the extra fabric up under his chin. His fingers brush Kyungsoo’s throat and Kyungsoo shivers at the touch.

“You have to keep your throat warm,” Baekhyun says, hurriedly pulling away, trying to talk over the beating of his heart. “Or it will go down to your lungs.”

“I honestly don’t think I should be listening to any of your medical advice,” says Kyungsoo, his voice hoarse.

“Be quiet, talking will make it worse.”

Baekhyun is expecting it when Kyungsoo reaches out from under the blanket to punch him on the shoulder but he isn’t expecting him to keep their contact. He presses his palm to the place he hit, like that might take the sting out, but he never hits hard enough to hurt so that can’t be why he does it. He doesn’t look at Baekhyun, he drags his hand down his arm and when his touch passes the fabric of his sweater and reaches his skin where the sleeves are pulled up, Baekhyun stops breathing. _I’m the only person here_ , he thinks wildly, and then Kyungsoo takes his hand, links their fingers together, lines their hands up palm to palm.

“Um,” says Baekhyun.  
  
“This blanket smells like you,” says Kyungsoo.

“Um,” says Baekhyun again.  
  
“Is this really all I need to do to get you to shut up?” Kyungsoo looks at him finally and his nose is red from sniffing and his lips are dry from coughing and his eyes are red at the edges but he looks far more determined than a sick person has any right to look. He looks like he’s had this planned for his whole life, holding Baekhyun’s hand while wrapped in a blanket and feverish.  
  
“Are you hallucinating?” Baekhyun asks, because it’s the first thing that comes into his head.  
  
“Baekhyun,” says Kyungsoo, endlessly patient. “Don’t be stupid.”

“I’m not being stupid.” He thinks that he ought to let go of Kyungsoo’s hand but he’s not sure if he will let him. “You have a fever.”

“No I don’t, I have a cold.”  
  
“Then why-”  
  
“I know you like me.”

"That’s-”

“I like you too.” 

Baekhyun blinks, blinks again, looks at their hands entwined, looks at his blanket around Kyungsoos shoulders, looks at Kyungsoo’s fluffy hair, his dry lips, his eyes, still and calm as water. He thinks, maybe, he doesn’t notice everything about Kyungsoo after all. He thinks, _maybe_ , Kyungsoo is still kind of a mystery to him.

“Well then can I-”

“Yes.”

Baekhyun kisses him. It’s not a good first kiss because Kyungsoo _is_ sick and because Baekhyun is trembling and because the floor is slippery and Baekhyun almost falls trying to get as close as he can, but it is a kiss. Clumsy and a little bit awkward and full of nervous energy, but a kiss. Kyungsoo sighs under Baekhyun’s lips. Baekhyun pulls away to smile. Kyungsoo pulls him back again and this time it’s better. Slow and deep and soft. Kyungsoo’s tongue and Baekhyun’s teeth.

“You’re gross,” Baekhyun says, when they break apart again, breathless and smiling. “You’re going to make me sick.”

“I don’t care.”  
  
“Will you nurse me back to health?”  
  
“Three baths a day.”

Baekhyun almost asks him if he’ll come too but he bites his tongue. He shuffles closer to Kyungsoo instead, reaches across the span of his shoulders, pulls him closer still, blanket and all. Kyungsoo doesn’t even struggle, he leans into Baekhyun like he was made to fit there. Baekhyun feels giddy and scared and impossibly happy, sitting on the floor in twilight. Like the rest of their lives don’t exist, like everything will be easier now instead of harder.  
  
“I can’t believe you waited until you were sick to tell me this,” he says.

“I can’t believe you still kissed me.”

“Liar.”

“Yeah.”

Baekhyun does run Kyungsoo a bath. They don’t share it, it’s not big enough and they’re too new for that anyway. Baekhyun listens to the sound of running water, watches the steam that drifts out under the door, thinks of water on skin and wet hair and Kyungsoo’s mouth, collecting steam. He will kiss him when he comes out, still damp, hair dripping, and taste the soft wetness of hot water.

**Author's Note:**

> this was written for a prompt on tumblr @tabeorin. the prompt was 'bathtub' and i guess this is what happened. if anyone wants me to fill a prompt send me an ask, please just keep it to one word though, i'm not good at super specific things haha, too scared to disappoint tbh. thank you for reading !!


End file.
